fasten your coat tails, it’s going to be a bumpy night

Petitions. Sigh. If you’re at all on social media, you’ve seen these. So much so that the other day I jokingly suggested I was starting a petition to stop stupid petitions. Like the ‘Say no to Kanye’ petition started, and ultimately failing, in protest to the scheduling of Kanye West in the closing ceremony of the recent Pan Am games. I’m not a Kanye West fan. I don’t care about Kanye. But if you want to make your point. Don’t go. It’s a version of voting with your dollars, but nothing sends a message better than no one showing up for something.

On the coat tails of the ol’ petition is the newest cousin, the ‘by paying attention to cause A you must not care about cause B’ stance. The most recent of which was the head shake inducing ‘if you care about Cecil the Lion, you don’t care about Black Lives Matter’. Let’s back up a second. To me these are both interesting situations, complex and layered, beyond that 140 character limit of a Tweet. But, again, from my perspective, completely different things. Yes I have feelings about hunting for sport. Yes I think there’s a huge issue in the US and Canada wherein people are not treated equally. But having feelings about one does not negate my feelings about the other. Having said all that I now have feelings about riding the coat tails of one issue to bring attention to the other. And they’re not so positive.

The thrill of social media is that, if you want to, you can express any old opinion you want. However trolls thrive in anonymity so post-er beware. And then there’s the situation where you don’t want to insult friends or family because you have such polar views about a particular issue. As in I know a lot of non-conservatives holding their tongues over the ‘genius’ of a particular loud mouthed Presidential contender just south of the border. On the flip side, perhaps there’s a way to respond opposing views in a tactful, thoughtful manner which is, fortunately, the more common reaction in my particular social circle. That and the always useful; to completely ignore the post and instead spend time on videos of bears, cats and/or goats doing ridiculously cute things.

It’s a short post this time. I don’t really have a conclusion, but then again, I probably won’t sign your particular petition. Opting instead to choose my words carefully. 

P.S. Apologies about the bears video, it's a fantastic time sucker.